Volatile Motives, Book 1 Calin
by homocats
Summary: Calin is an average, happy go lucky kit. That is until a cat he wished wasn't his kin ruins his life, and when he runs away from his home he meets a cat who's apart of a group of vicious rogues called the Ravagers. Calin is swayed by manipulation, and vows revenge. Up until he meets a cat who shares a similar story as him, and as tensions rise, he must decide which path to take.


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p style="text-align: center;"span id="docs-internal-guid-26101a8d-7fff-2b33-ecf6-4f3e6b08fd32"span style="font-size: 20pt; font-family: Bitter; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Prologue/span/span/p  
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p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Bitter; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The setting sun blazed between the trees, giving the forest a golden glow. The ferns shivered, and a pale silver molly with soft purple eyes stepped out, eyes wide and alert. She jumped at the sound of leaves crunching, then relaxed when she saw a skinny, dark gray tabby weaving through the vegetation towards her like a snake. "Have you caught anything yet?" He hissed, his piercing green eyes flashing angrily as he studied her. The molly shook her head. "Not yet." Her eyes grew round with nervousness. "I scented a fox by the hickory tree not far from our den. It's fresh, too." She gestured to her plump belly with a flick of her tail. "Our kits will be due in half a moon, Thoros." She stepped forward and pressed her head to his chest. "We need to move somewhere else. Someplace safe." "No." Thoros growled, moving away from her. "I'll handle it." His gaze grew distant as he stared into the trees. "Go back to the hollow tree, Lily." Lily watched in dismay as he broke into a run and vanished into the bracken. She sighed, and headed back to the glade where she and Thoros had settled down a few seasons ago. She dipped her head gratefully to the life of the mouse she had caught on her way back, then ate it in a few heartbeats, stifling a groan as her stomach grumbled loudly. She looked down at her plump belly, and licked the fur softly, purring. The grass swished, and Thoros staggered into the den. His eyes were glazed, and his pelt was soaked in… Lily let out a horrified gasp. "Is that blood?" Thoros nodded stiffly without meeting her gaze. She sniffed him anxiously all over, searching for wounds. But his pelt was sleek, and untouched. A dreadful chill shot up her spine. She turned toward her mate, mouth dry. "Who's…who's blood is this..?" Thoros lifted a forepaw and started washing the blood off of it. "Why does it matter?" He sounded unreasonably furious. "If you're really so interested, I killed the fox. Now your kits are safe." But Lily knew he wasn't telling the truth. Her nose twitched. She scented cat blood. Why was he lying to her? She looked him squarely in the eyes. "Thoros, what happened?" She demanded. Thoros glanced at her, eyes dark. "Some annoying molly. Was wailing about how she was lost and scaring all the prey away. I only chased her off." He flexed bloodstained claws with orange tufts of fur snagged in between them. Lily could hardly believe what she was hearing and seeing. "Then /spanspan style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Bitter; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"why/spanspan style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Bitter; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" are you covered in blood?" She didn't want to believe it. Her mate wasn't a murderer. But a feeling of dread was making her fur bristle.

Thoros didn't answer, and went back to cleaning himself. Lily shot from the hollow tree and charged through the woods. The strong scent of blood immediately hit her throat, and she continued to follow the trail. It led down a rocky slope and around a bramble thicket. The blood scent was strongest here. It choked her, and she struggled to breathe. As she rounded the brambles, she saw the bloody tufts of orange fur that she had seen in Thoros' claws caught on the thorns and littering the forest floor. She stopped, fur bushing, and shrieked. An orange tabby molly was laying on her side on the ground. Her pelt was shredded, and her neck was ripped open. Under the suffocating reek of blood, she detected Thoros's scent.

Lily wanted to look away and run, but her paws were rooted to the ground. Her suspicions were right. He mate /spanspan style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Bitter; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"was /spanspan style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Bitter; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"a murderer. He didn't chase her off. He killed her. She remembered with fear the menacing look in his eyes as he lied to her face. She never knew he would ever be capable of such a thing as this. She crouched down at the molly's side. Tears began to drip down from her face. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm so sorry he did this to you." She stood up and looked around frantically. She had to leave. She knew if she stayed, she was going to be next. But she couldn't just leave the poor tabby to rot out in the open for the foxes. She scraped away the leaf litter, and threw up pawfuls of soil behind her, creating a dip in the earth. As she was digging out the grave, a weak mew startled her. She looked down. The orange tabby was alive, but just barely. Agony flickered in her eyes, and each breath she took looked painful. "Please...h...elp...me…" She rasped.

Lily immediately started licking her fiercely. /spanspan style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Bitter; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Please live. I'm going to save you, I swear. Just hang on. /spanspan style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Bitter; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The molly started hacking, blood dribbling from her mouth.

/spanspan style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Bitter; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"No! /spanspan style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Bitter; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lily was hyperventilating now. She scanned the trees for cobwebs, and her heart quickened momentarily with relief when she spotted some on a hemlock tree. She dashed over to it, sliced it off the furry branches with her claws, and brought it back to the orange tabby molly. They had stopped moving now, and when Lily touched her paw to their flank, it was cold. Anger and grief surged through her like a raging river. She bit her lip hard to keep herself from screeching, and rolled her body into the hole she had prepared. It fell with a sickening thud, and Lily flinched. She covered it until it was a small mound, then closed her eyes and sat vigil for a few heartbeats. There was no time. Hopefully the molly would forgive her for leaving her. She had to leave. If Thoros was able to do such an atrocious thing to an innocent stranger, who knows what he'd do to her, the mother of their kits, later on? Lily wasn't about to stay to find out. Looking over her shoulder and gazing at the woods one last time, she turned and pelted away, running as far, and as fast, as her legs would take her./span/p

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